"KYO" 2007 Obituary

KYONKA o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2007-01-07 published
Head-on collision kills 2 teens, police officer
Van carrying teens crossed into oncoming lane on Major Mackenzie
Drive, crashing into off-duty York Region police officer's car
early yesterday
By Thulasi
SRIKANTHAN,
StaffReporter with files from Meghan
WATERS and Nick
KYONKAEveryChristmas,York Region police officer Davis
AHLOWALIA would
buy and gift-wrap hundreds of boxes of chocolates, then drive
to Nathan Phillips Square to hand them out to the homeless.
It was typical behaviour for the 28-year-old police officer,
who helped raise funds for an orphanage in Jamaica and worked
to feed the poor in Calcutta.
But yesterday, the man who worked hard to build a better life
for others was killed in a head-on collision after a van travelling
in the opposite direction crossed into his lane.
Two teenage boys from the van were also killed in the accident,
near Major Mackenzie and Pine Valley Drives in Vaughan. A third
passenger in the van is in critical condition at Sunnybrook Hospital.
Police yesterday tentatively identified
AHLOWALIA.
One of the
vehicles was registered in his name.
"It hasn't really sunk in yet because he is just so full of life
and I can't imagine that would be taken away so quickly," said
his sister-in-law Alisia
D'SILVA. "He is one of the pillars of
this family. It's going to be so quiet in this house. He has
always been so full of life, he walks into the door and you know
he's there 'cause he is always laughing."
Police remembered
AHLOWALIA as a humanitarian with a warm heart.
"This is truly a tragedy that someone so young with so much to
give is gone," said York Police Chief Armand LA
BARGE.
In the last few hours of his life,
D'SILVA says
AHLOWALIA was
with her and one of his older brothers. They spent the evening
having dinner and joking around.
"We were reminiscing about our childhoods and growing up in Indian
families and joking about pranks we used to get into and the
trouble we used to get into with our parents," she said.
AHLOWALIA's final stop before he left to drive home was the house
of his sister-in-law's parents in York Region.
"I hugged him goodnight and went inside and he talked to his
brother for a bit and got back in the car and that was it and
then a couple of hours later, we got a call that he was gone,"
she said.
The youngest of three brothers, he grew up in a devout Catholic
family. He planned to become a priest but left after a year to
pursue a career in the force.
"Any sort of injustice he just couldn't stand for it, he wouldn't
just sit back there and think about it, he'd get out there and
do something about it."
Last October, he flew to India to work with Mother Teresa's charity,
where he bought food for the homeless and cared for the mentally
handicapped. His vacations were spent volunteering. "He's done
more in his 28 years than most people would have in 90 years,"
D'SILVA said. "He has lived his life and he has touched so many
people in that short time."

KYONKA o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2007-01-07 published
No end to pain in unsolved fatalities
Road accident cases hard for families, police
By Nick KYONKA,
StaffReporterThe parents of Andres
MALDONADO still have questions about the
night their son was killed in a hit-and-run accident two months
ago.
"I would like to clarify what happened that night because nothing
is clear for me," his father, Galo
MALDONADO, said Friday. "I
would like to talk to the people who were involved in this accident&hellip
I need answers."
Those people, however, are not coming forward.
Nineteen-year-old Andres died while trying to cross Highway 27
near Humber College Blvd. shortly after midnight on October 29.
Crossing against a red light, he was struck by one car in the
passing lane before falling into the curb lane and being struck
again.
The first car stopped but the driver has never come to speak
to the teen's family. The second car, believed to be light-coloured
and mid-sized, sped away and has not been seen since.
The teen's death is one of three unsolved fatal accidents in
2006, and officers from the Toronto police Traffic Services division
are calling on the public to help shed light on each of the cases.
"None of us like to have outstanding cases where we haven't been
able to find who's responsible for the victim's families," said
Det. Paul LOBSINGER. "
When we're unable to solve it, we have
some sense that we haven't just let the family down, we've let
the community down."
In MALDONADO's case, he said, it's even more frustrating because
the driver of the second car would not have faced any criminal
charges had he or she stopped after the accident.
"(MALDONADO) was dressed completely in dark clothing, crossing
a highway in the dark against a red light," he noted.
The other two unsolved road deaths last year came about half
an hour apart on the morning of March 11.
At about 8: 50 a.m., 69-year-old Jure
KOZINA was crossing the
road near Dundas St. and Bloor St. W. when a car plowed through
the intersection, fatally striking
KOZINA.
The car, which did not stay at the scene, was believed to be
a dark-coloured, late-'90s Mercury Sable.
At around 9: 15 a.m. on the other side of the city, 47-year-old
Ronald HARDING was taking advantage of some unseasonably warm
weather by taking his motorcycle out for a ride in the city's
east end when he ran a red light at Morningside Ave. and Sheppard
Ave. E.
Another vehicle, believed to be a mid-to-late-'90s silver Pontiac
Grand Am, was heading through the intersection at the same time
and collided with Harding's bike. The driver of the car stopped
briefly at the scene before speeding off.
"We all know in our mind that there are people out there who
know what happened and who know who's responsible,"
LOBSINGER
said of the cases. "It's hard to get it in our mind that they
would not come forward."
As for Galo
MALDONADO, he and his family are no longer angry
with the driver who killed his son. They simply want to know
what happened. "We are Christians and we don't want nothing against
them but we need to clarify the situation," he said.